IN YOUR OPINION

Letters to the Editor for Aug. 23, 2013

Published: Friday, August 23, 2013 at 6:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Monday, August 26, 2013 at 12:33 p.m.

DCF’s responsibility

The Aug. 15 article, “Sanford man faces charge in death of local toddler,” is heartbreaking.

Marion County now joins some South Florida counties in being infamous for the tragic death of an innocent child whose misfortune was to be born to parents who apparently cared more about drugs than a precious child.

The article says the Department of Children and Families managed the case properly.

Really?! Then why is little Yvonne Bailey dead?

Apparently, Yvonne was in foster care for a time. Perhaps she was safe there.

But, DCF’s mission is to reunite families. So full steam ahead and place this child with family, albeit with provisions the child not be near Matthew McCague.

McCague, it would seem, is a convicted felon on probation, and whose wife, Jennifer, is a relative of the child.

Did DCF ever wonder how they were going to enforce the denial of a request that little Yvonne go to the home of Jennifer McCague in Sanford? Did they ever give a thought that these folks might just do whatever they wanted to do?

Historically, convicted felons don’t always follow the rules. So DCF in their infinite wisdom returns an innocent child to a family that has a felon who can gain access to this child, and they have the audacity to say the case was managed properly?

Everyone involved with this case should be fired, and some new folks who really know how to evaluate risk should take their places — preferably people with some common sense.

Little Yvonne will never blow out candles on her second birthday. She will never have a first day of kindergarten.

The least we can do is remember her, and try to correct all the mistakes that came into play to tragically end her young life.

LaVerne Browand

Ocala

Tax everyone!

Does the county need to raise its tourism tax?

Not only does it need to raise the tax, it pretty nearly has to.

The County Commission and the city councils are going to have to find some other ways of paying for all the cities’ and county’s wants, whether actually needed or not — other than with yet another increase in property taxes.

The property owners are tired of constant increases, especially in these hard financial times.

We are very close to a time when the property owners will either not be able to pay their property taxes or just refuse to. I personally choose the second option. Let’s see what they will do then.

Bring on the sales tax. Let’s tax the people who use the city and county facilities for doing so, and, do it fairly — everyone having an equal share of the duty.

Tax everyone and anyone who uses anything — and at the same rate.

It’s way past the time for those who use our facilities to help pay for them. If you have a half dozen kids in the school system, then pay some school taxes. If you’re buying cigarettes and beer but don’t own any property, pay something to support the system.

It is those who pay the least who are the part of the population that is growing the fastest. They are using more and more of our facilities and services, and they are paying less and less for it. They are getting the free ride.

We need a sales tax of at least 10 to 12 percent, with EVERYONE paying their fair share of the taxes on anything they use.

We may just find out we don’t need a property tax at all.

Donald Wimmer

Ocala

Revisionist Democrats

I was just perusing the Democrats’ “Our History” web page and got a little chuckle.

The first line is the funniest:

“For more than 200 years, our party has led the fight for civil rights” and then took credit for the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

But is this true? Did they, in fact, champion the Civil Rights Act?

In fact, only 66 percent of Democrats voted to pass it, while 80 percent of Republicans voted for passage.

But today’s media has the masses believing that the Republican Party is the racist party, ignoring the epic fact that it was a Republican president and the Republican Party that freed the slaves in the first place. The Democrat history page didn’t even address that fact.

The same Democrat history page also takes credit for the women’s right to vote — the 19th Amendment — but is that also true?

A fact missed by Democrats is that prior to 1919, Republicans had been putting up versions of the Women’s Voting Act for more than 40 years, and every year the Democrats defeated them until Democratic President Woodrow Wilson made the move to enter World War I, thus causing a crushing Democrat defeat.

The Republicans then gained total control of both houses of Congress and the 19th Amendment was passed 304-88, with only 16 Republican’s opposing.

That means 72 of those 88 votes against were Democrats.

Once again, the only way the Democrats can make themselves look good is to rewrite history and spoon feed it to those uninformed voters.

Bill Cochran

Ocala

Small government test

Raising any tax in Marion County means increasing the size of government of Marion County no matter what argument is used for its future financial efficacy.

The Tourist Development Council is just another branch of government and performs a task that should be left to private enterprise to fulfill.

Are we truly interested in smaller, less expensive government? This should be a good test.

<p><b>DCF's responsibility</b></p><p>The Aug. 15 article, “Sanford man faces charge in death of local toddler,” is heartbreaking.</p><p>Marion County now joins some South Florida counties in being infamous for the tragic death of an innocent child whose misfortune was to be born to parents who apparently cared more about drugs than a precious child.</p><p>The article says the Department of Children and Families managed the case properly.</p><p>Really?! Then why is little Yvonne Bailey dead?</p><p>Apparently, Yvonne was in foster care for a time. Perhaps she was safe there.</p><p>But, DCF's mission is to reunite families. So full steam ahead and place this child with family, albeit with provisions the child not be near Matthew McCague.</p><p>McCague, it would seem, is a convicted felon on probation, and whose wife, Jennifer, is a relative of the child.</p><p>Did DCF ever wonder how they were going to enforce the denial of a request that little Yvonne go to the home of Jennifer McCague in Sanford? Did they ever give a thought that these folks might just do whatever they wanted to do?</p><p>Historically, convicted felons don't always follow the rules. So DCF in their infinite wisdom returns an innocent child to a family that has a felon who can gain access to this child, and they have the audacity to say the case was managed properly?</p><p>Everyone involved with this case should be fired, and some new folks who really know how to evaluate risk should take their places — preferably people with some common sense.</p><p>Little Yvonne will never blow out candles on her second birthday. She will never have a first day of kindergarten.</p><p>The least we can do is remember her, and try to correct all the mistakes that came into play to tragically end her young life.</p><p>LaVerne Browand</p><p>Ocala</p><p><b>Tax everyone!</b></p><p>Does the county need to raise its tourism tax?</p><p>Not only does it need to raise the tax, it pretty nearly has to.</p><p>The County Commission and the city councils are going to have to find some other ways of paying for all the cities' and county's wants, whether actually needed or not — other than with yet another increase in property taxes.</p><p>The property owners are tired of constant increases, especially in these hard financial times.</p><p>We are very close to a time when the property owners will either not be able to pay their property taxes or just refuse to. I personally choose the second option. Let's see what they will do then.</p><p>Bring on the sales tax. Let's tax the people who use the city and county facilities for doing so, and, do it fairly — everyone having an equal share of the duty.</p><p>Tax everyone and anyone who uses anything — and at the same rate.</p><p>It's way past the time for those who use our facilities to help pay for them. If you have a half dozen kids in the school system, then pay some school taxes. If you're buying cigarettes and beer but don't own any property, pay something to support the system.</p><p>It is those who pay the least who are the part of the population that is growing the fastest. They are using more and more of our facilities and services, and they are paying less and less for it. They are getting the free ride.</p><p>We need a sales tax of at least 10 to 12 percent, with EVERYONE paying their fair share of the taxes on anything they use.</p><p>We may just find out we don't need a property tax at all.</p><p>Donald Wimmer</p><p>Ocala</p><p><b>Revisionist Democrats</b></p><p>I was just perusing the Democrats' “Our History” web page and got a little chuckle.</p><p>The first line is the funniest:</p><p>“For more than 200 years, our party has led the fight for civil rights” and then took credit for the 1964 Civil Rights Act.</p><p>But is this true? Did they, in fact, champion the Civil Rights Act?</p><p>In fact, only 66 percent of Democrats voted to pass it, while 80 percent of Republicans voted for passage.</p><p>But today's media has the masses believing that the Republican Party is the racist party, ignoring the epic fact that it was a Republican president and the Republican Party that freed the slaves in the first place. The Democrat history page didn't even address that fact.</p><p>The same Democrat history page also takes credit for the women's right to vote — the 19th Amendment — but is that also true?</p><p>A fact missed by Democrats is that prior to 1919, Republicans had been putting up versions of the Women's Voting Act for more than 40 years, and every year the Democrats defeated them until Democratic President Woodrow Wilson made the move to enter World War I, thus causing a crushing Democrat defeat.</p><p>The Republicans then gained total control of both houses of Congress and the 19th Amendment was passed 304-88, with only 16 Republican's opposing.</p><p>That means 72 of those 88 votes against were Democrats.</p><p>Once again, the only way the Democrats can make themselves look good is to rewrite history and spoon feed it to those uninformed voters.</p><p>Bill Cochran</p><p>Ocala</p><p><b>Small government test</b></p><p>Raising any tax in Marion County means increasing the size of government of Marion County no matter what argument is used for its future financial efficacy.</p><p>The Tourist Development Council is just another branch of government and performs a task that should be left to private enterprise to fulfill.</p><p>Are we truly interested in smaller, less expensive government? This should be a good test.</p><p>Bryan Demkowicz</p><p>Ocala</p>